Canadia

Sooo after pulling the trigger on an Apexcone 50w 5000k HID kit (sharphid.com) and letting them sit in the box for about a week, i finally had some time to capitalize on my purchase. After doing some research, i chose this particular kit because it was relatively cheap, came with a lifetime parts warranty, and i had heard other C5 success stories with it. I present another of that sort. Here goes:


<b>Step One: Find a spot to mount the ballast/igniter</b>
I chose a flat spot underneath either housing. There was just enough space to fit most of the ballast, but it didn't quite cover it completely. I also folded over a pretty thick wad of duct tape and wedged it in between the ballast and the bumper support arm to prevent potential bouncing/wiggling around.

<b>Step Two: Drill a 1" hole in the middle of the back cap of the housing</b>
Fairly straightforward, just don't take off a finger or break anything. Here's the crowned boring bit i used:

<img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q294/canadia507/IMG_0374.jpg">

<b>Step Three: Feed bulb and power wires through the hole and seat the provided grommet</b>
Easy peasy. The bulb just plugs in where the old halogen would, as do the power connectors. Thought it was somewhat of a PITA wiggling the grommet through the whole while making sure the bulb didn't flop around and hit anything. Friends/gloves/third arms would come in handy if you have them.

<b>Step Four: Umm, i'm done? That was easy!</b>
Seriously that's all there is to it, just make sure the wires fit in without a problem and re-attach the housing covers. I have no idea why dealers make such a big deal over a xenon retrofit.

It took me about two hours total from start to finish, partly because i dropped one of the plastic bulb shields down into the airbox like an idiot:

<img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q294/canadia507/IMG_0381.jpg">

Luckily i had my extendo magnet thing to wrap in a wad of duct tape to handily retrieve it.

<img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q294/canadia507/IMG_0384.jpg">

Here is a pic of the lowbeam projection with one side stock halogen and the other HID, left and right, respectively:

<img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q294/canadia507/IMG_0378.jpg">

The difference is unbelievable in person, the pics don't do it justice. It is, however, very noticeable in the snow above. The right side beam is much brighter than the left. Here's another comparison of HID versus halogen.

Halogen:

<img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q294/canadia507/IMG_0380.jpg">

HID:

<img src="http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q294/canadia507/IMG_0379.jpg">

Cutoff is flawless, and i don't blind anyone; they align just like the OE halogens did. The only difference is the brightness. I'm exceedingly pleased with the results and highly advocate doing this mod if you'd like to improve visibility (and schweetness of look) over the stock halogen setup.

audikillsbmw

It looks weird when you have xenon low beams and "yellow" high beams :P

S6_Skier

the highs are certainly yellow... and i saw some posts about them warming up and switching to HID, but it certainly doesn't seem like that's the case. Lord knows they're bright as hell (the highs)... but they're STILL yellow...

what's up witdat?

Canadia

Thats where bi-xenons come in =)

SNAFU 4

Two duct tapes uses FTW! Nice job!

Bruce M

....due to warm up time as Canadia mentions.

By the time they are throwing useful light, you'll be dimming them due to traffic again. Not to mention losing the flash-to-pass.

Bruce

Canadia

I don't keep the industrial-sized roll in my trunk for nothing lol

ndjano

unless, of course, you're one of those people who drive around with their high beams on all the time.

audikillsbmw

j/k

ndjano

j/k... i probably wouldn't :-P